diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/61978-get-url-no-checksum.yml b/changelogs/fragments/61978-get-url-no-checksum.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fd698aa146b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/61978-get-url-no-checksum.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+bugfixes:
+- get_url - Don't treat no checksum as a checksum match
+  (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/61978)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/net_tools/basics/get_url.py b/lib/ansible/modules/net_tools/basics/get_url.py
index 701df31c82f..3c84cb60e96 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/net_tools/basics/get_url.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/net_tools/basics/get_url.py
@@ -540,7 +540,7 @@ def main():
                 checksum_mismatch = True
 
         # Not forcing redownload, unless checksum does not match
-        if not force and not checksum_mismatch:
+        if not force and checksum and not checksum_mismatch:
             # Not forcing redownload, unless checksum does not match
             # allow file attribute changes
             module.params['path'] = dest
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/get_url/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/targets/get_url/tasks/main.yml
index 587b8c58f17..82780d84acd 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/get_url/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/get_url/tasks/main.yml
@@ -257,29 +257,53 @@
       - result is changed
       - "stat_result.stat.mode == '0775'"
 
-- name: Get a file that already exists
+- name: test checksum match in check mode
   get_url:
     url: 'https://{{ httpbin_host }}/get'
     dest: '{{ remote_tmp_dir }}/test'
+    checksum: 'sha256:7036ede810fad2b5d2e7547ec703cae8da61edbba43c23f9d7203a0239b765c4.'
+  check_mode: True
+  register: result
+
+- name: Assert that check mode was green
+  assert:
+    that:
+      - result is not changed
+
+- name: Get a file that already exists with a checksum
+  get_url:
+    url: 'https://{{ httpbin_host }}/cache'
+    dest: '{{ remote_tmp_dir }}/test'
+    checksum: 'sha1:{{ stat_result.stat.checksum }}'
+  register: result
+
+- name: Assert that the file was not downloaded
+  assert:
+    that:
+      - result.msg == 'file already exists'
+
+- name: Get a file that already exists
+  get_url:
+    url: 'https://{{ httpbin_host }}/cache'
+    dest: '{{ remote_tmp_dir }}/test'
   register: result
 
 - name: Assert that we didn't re-download unnecessarily
   assert:
     that:
       - result is not changed
+      - "'304' in result.msg"
 
-- name: test checksum match in check mode
+- name: get a file that doesn't respond to If-Modified-Since without checksum
   get_url:
     url: 'https://{{ httpbin_host }}/get'
     dest: '{{ remote_tmp_dir }}/test'
-    checksum: 'sha256:7036ede810fad2b5d2e7547ec703cae8da61edbba43c23f9d7203a0239b765c4.'
-  check_mode: True
   register: result
 
-- name: Assert that check mode was green
+- name: Assert that we downloaded the file
   assert:
     that:
-      - result is not changed
+      - result is changed
 
 # https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/27617